Over 50 years ago, the pioneer residents of Medford Leas agreed that they would decide themselves what activities they would sponsor on the campus, and they created the Medford Leas Residents Association (MLRA) to carry out and administer the wishes of the residents in a democratic manner.
All residents are members of the Medford Leas Residents Association. The Association’s purpose is to promote and further the common interests of the residents and to communicate and cooperate with the Estaugh Board and the Administration in creating and cultivating a healthful, enjoyable, active, constructive and useful community life.
MLRA committees set up programs in our theater, such as lectures by guest speakers and residents, and concerts by artists from the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Curtis Institute and other sources.
There is an art gallery that invites artists from the region, and two other galleries that hang the work of resident artists. The committees also organize trips to the concert halls, theaters, and museums of Philadelphia and New York.
Residents organize social activities and provide volunteer assistance for the fitness and aquatics program, in-house mail distribution, floral display, trails and woodlands, and so forth. They publish two newsletters, a literary journal, and this website.
The Lumberton campus, known officially as “Medford Leas at Lumberton,” is about five miles north of the Medford campus. Residents on both campuses are automatically members of MLRA and participate in its governance, activities, committees, and in volunteer work on the main campus. Additionally, residents in Lumberton are members of the Lumberton Campus Residents Association (LCRA), which has an elected council along with a set of activities, committees, and volunteer jobs specific to the Lumberton campus.
The History of Medford Leas includes two photo essays, one starting with its founding in 1971 until its 40th Anniversary year in 2011, and a second covering the following decade, 2012-2021. The Magazine drop-down menu includes our blog, Around the Leas, and index to Leas Lit, our literary journal.
Around the Leas
Residents’ Paintings Shown at Juried Art Exhibitions
Chuck Clauser and Elizabeth Larose have paintings on display at the Burlington County Parks 47th Annual Juried Art Show, and Dorothy Cebula and Anne Reid have paintings in the New Jersey Senior Citizens Art Show.
Lumberton’s Gargoyle
Under the eave of a garage on Woodside Drive, bald-faced hornets have built a large gray paper nest that looks for all the world like a gargoyle. Fortunately, they don’t attack and sting unless their nest is threatened or disturbed accidentally.
Marsh Marigolds at Medford Leas: Still Here After 30 Years!
In 1992 Ted Gordon’s survey of Medford Leas traillands noted the uncommon Marsh Marigold (Catttra palustris) in the “muck flats east of the northern tip of the Island.”